Chapter 4 – Dreams of Torture:

.

.

.

Another agonising scream left Loki's dry lips as The Other attempted to penetrate his mind again. Loki remembers The Others promise to make him wish for something as sweet as pain and he regrets ever letting Thor let him live to see it, he should have just let the Avengers kill him. The Other was trying to rip Loki's mind apart while a Chitauri soldier whipped his back with a cat o'nine tails just to be sure he couldn't put up a mental barrier to stop The Other. The whip tore though Loki's pale flesh with ease as the Chitauri swung it at full force.

Another scream, another slash down his back. He had to stay strong though. A gasp of relief left his lips as The Other let go of his mind and his head in the process letting it fall down onto his chest hopelessly. He hung loosely on his chains as he gasped for air, watching blood drip from his body and onto the dirt ridden floor. Loki couldn't remember how long he had been here but he refused to let them drive him to madness, no matter how much it hurt.

"He's still got too much resolve in him." The Other said to the Chitauri general, who was wiping the whip down. Loki sucked in a deep breath before looking up at his captor except this time it wasn't his captor in front of him.

It was Frigga.

Loki gasped at the image of his mother in front of him, her eyes swimming with sorrow as she held her hands out to her son.

"Loki." Her soft voice called as the chains suddenly disappeared from his wrists letting him fall into her loving embrace. She caught him with ease, guiding them both to the ground so they were knelt together.

She rubbed his now healed back comfortingly taking some of the pain away. "Oh, Loki."

"Help me," He begged pitifully as more pain took over his body. "Please, mother. It hurts" He almost sobbed as pain filled his body and mind to the brim again. He wouldn't admit it but he couldn't take much more mental or physical torment from the chitauri.

"You are beyond my help, my son." She says softly stroking his sweat drenched hair lovingly. "Give in to it." Loki shook his head; he had to stay strong, he couldn't let them break him. At this Frigga's face became hard and a knife appeared in her hands. She pulled it back and plunged it deep into Loki's gut, twisting it has it went in all the way to the hilt. Loki cried out, struggled against her but she just held him to her chest and smoothed his hair gently. He clung to her arms unbelievably tightly as he refused to scream in agony at her actions.

"Give in Loki," she said again, withdrawing the blade from his gut quickly, letting blood pour from the gaping wound. When Loki shook his head, unable to speak, the knife was plunged into his chest. This time and Loki couldn't help the sounds that came from his mouth as the blade was twisted around in his body. The pain was real even if Loki knew she wasn't.

"E-enough... G-games." He stuttered between gritted teeth as he was pulled out of the mental world he had been thrown into unknowingly. A chitauri now stood in front of him, a blade dug deep into his chest. Instead of pulling it out the general bent the blade and snapped it off pulling the handle away from Loki's chest without the blade. Loki grunted but didn't scream in pain as he made eye contact with The Other.

"It seems like we need to break you physically before we can break you mentally." He spoke deeply.

"Give it your best shot." Loki said defiantly as he would not be defeated so easily.

"Oh, I will."

.

.

.

The days were blurring together as the torture continued. Respite only came when Loki would pass out from pain, starvation or exhaustion. This meant he couldn't regain much of his strength before the next torture sessions began. Some by the Chitauri generals and some by The Other himself.

A sudden chill ran down Loki's body as cold water was dropped onto his body. Todays torture session was about to begin.

Loki recognised this Chitauri. It had been the one who always favoured the whip. The other liked Loki warmed up before he had his turn.

Bring it on Loki thought as he gripped the chains connected to his cuffs for support readying himself for the first impact.

The chitauri delivered several excruciating slashes to Loki's already sore and raw back before The Other had a go at breaking his mind. It felt like a million needled were being driven into his head as he screamed and thrashed in his chains. The pain got worse and before he knew it, he was falling into a dark black hole.

It took all Loki had to regain himself back to reality which earned him a hard punch to the face by the other. A crack was heard thought the room and Loki was sure he had just broken his jaw from the pain.

A chitauri officer grabbed Loki's broken jaw and forced him to look upwards while another chitauri prepared another torture device. He felt warm Liquid being poured down the left side of his face. At first it felt okay but the next it began to burn. Alkali.

The liquid dripped from his face onto his chest causing that to burn too and he couldn't help but howl and thrash in pain as it did. He squirmed as he tried to wipe the alkali away but he couldn't reach, he could only sob and yell and let it happen as the chitauri laughed.

It wasn't long before the pain became unbearable and he willingly passed out

.

.

.

Loki felt his eyes flutter gently open. His blurred vision clearing slowly as he allowed himself to take in his surroundings. Thor was sat on his bed with a worried look in his eyes. This isn't real. Loki told himself but when Thors hand came up to stroke the hair from his face it truly broke him.

"Brother?" He questioned with a sob blinking slowly at Thor.

Before he could get a reply, he had already fell back into unconsciousness.

.

.

.